Women in Technology Scholarship Framework

RMOUG “Women in Technology” (WIT) Scholarship Framework

Applicants for this special annual WIT scholarship must be female, as RMOUG is trying to help encourage more women to consider technology careers as local, national and international trends continue to show that IT fields are dominated by males.

Scholarships will be awarded on an annual basis for an amount up to $1000.

Ideally, two $500 scholarships will be awarded on an annual basis, however the RMOUG Board of Directors may award varying amounts based on the number of qualified scholarship applications received and amounts are within the approved budget.

This is based on all applicants having submitted their paperwork by the annual due date and are approved by the scholarship committee and the RMOUG board of directors.

If only one applicant submits all of the required paperwork by the annual due date, then she is eligible for both $500 scholarships for a total of $1000 for the annual award.

If no completed paperwork is submitted by the annual due date then no funds will be dispersed for this special annual scholarship award program.

All scholarship recipients will also receive one complementary RMOUG Training Days Pass for the next regularly scheduled RMOUG Training Days Event.

If the Scholarship Applicant is currently attending High School, then she is only able to apply for an RMOUG scholarship if she is within 6 months of starting her Higher Education Program, selected a School of Attendance and have registered with the school.

RMOUG requires that students have a School Account with the school they plan on attending so that any potential scholarship funds awarded can be deposited into their School Account.

An example would be that a High School student applies for the December 15th WIT Scholarship Review Period if they plan on attending their School of Attendance with a start date in between January through June of the new year, otherwise they apply the next year for the WIT scholarship or look at quarterly scholarship opportunities with the RMOUG Stan Yellott Scholarship program.

Previous RMOUG Scholarship Recipients are not excluded from applying for future scholarship awards whether it is for the Annual RMOUG WIT Scholarship or the RMOUG Quarterly Stan Yellott Scholarship; but will be required to submit updated applications.

Awarding an additional scholarship award to a previous scholarship recipient will be at the discretion of the RMOUG BOD after appropriate discussions and deliberations on the merits.

A New Scholarship Application, Application Statement, Letters of Recommendation and Official School Transcripts must be submitted in order to be considered for any potential additional scholarship awards.

If any of the scholarship application documents are not new, such as using the same Letters of Recommendation, Application Statement or School Transcripts, then the applicant will be disqualified for consideration during that scholarship review period.

If a Scholarship Applicant applied for an RMOUG Scholarship during a previous scholarship review period but has never received a scholarship award from RMOUG, then they may apply for a future scholarship review period and may reuse application documents that they previously submitted as long as the Scholarship Application itself is updated with correct dates, school and so forth.

However scholarship applicants should closely review their application documents to determine if the quality of those application documents may be a reason why the applicant did not receive a scholarship award during the previous scholarship submission review period.

The Maximum Lifetime RMOUG Scholarship Award for any Scholarship Recipient is $2000.

This can be accomplished through multiple scholarship awards while the student is still pursuing a degree.

If a Previous Scholarship Recipient applies again they must also be able to show that they have progressed forward with additional course work before they can be considered for any possible additional scholarship awards. This would be demonstrated through a comparison of the School Transcripts submitted from the previous scholarship award and the School Transcripts submitted for a Future Quarterly Scholarship Review Period.

Depending on the quality of the responses for the three topics, fractional points such as “.25”, “.50” and “.75” may be assigned.

A poor response to one or more of the three topics may result in no points being awarded for the topics in question.

A missing response to one or more of the three topics will result in no points being awarded for the topic(s) in question.

The Applicant’s Letters of Recommendation (LOR) with which up to 4 LOR’s may be submitted.

LOR’s from IT Instructors or from IT Business Professionals with which you have taken classes or have worked for carry the most weight in our review process.

Additional LOR’s from other general sources regarding character and so forth may be submitted as well and can help strengthen a scholarship application.

Depending on the quality of the LOR’s, fractional points such as “.25”, “.50” and “.75” may be assigned.

A maximum of 1 point may be assigned to LOR’s from IT Instructors or from IT Business Professionals.

A maximum of .50 points may be assigned to LOR’s that are just general character references.

The qualified scholarship applicant’s application, official school transcript(s), Letter of Recommendation(s), and score along with a written recommendation from the scholarship committee, are presented at the next RMOUG Board Meeting for discussion and final selection.

Once final selection is agreed upon, the RMOUG President, Vice President or Scholarship Director will make a motion for RMOUG Board approval.

The scholarship check that is distributed will be addressed (written) to a College, University or Technical Schools Student / Financial Aid Department and then the check will be mailed to the school along with the Students Name and School Id for proper application in their Student Account.

Due to the above requirement, a Scholarship Applicant must be registered with the school they plan to attend at the time of the scholarship award distribution and must have a Student ID so that funds can be properly deposited to their School Account.